Writer's Games Entries

Task 5: "The Raven and The Crow" (E)

It felt like I was blindfolded. I was fighting someone with my eyes covered, and when I finally opened them, I saw my dead little brother. I didn't know what I was doing or why, I just did it. My little brother Ax died because of me. I don't know why I was sent to the Games or why I have now taken his place all of a sudden. Ax' lack of resistance is just another thing to confuse me in the middle of all this. My entire chest collapsed in on itself when I saw his dim eyes.

I think I cried the next couple of hours after it happened. I didn't even think to touch the axe that I was equipped with going into this, or the knife that I used to actually kill him. What bothers me the most about all of it, is that I don't remember much of what actually happened, I just knew what I had done when my eyes 'opened'. I had killed my brother. Now I am supposed to take his place and wander around these ruins trying to stay alive by avoiding tributes, or kill the ones I encounter. At this point though, it feels pointless.

Time seems to travel endlessly slow. I don't know what time of day it is, but the sun is coming up over the horizon. I guess it's early morning then. I should've used these first few hours in here trying to get some rest because I don't know when my next chance of getting that will come. Speaking of chances, I have thought a lot about what my family thinks of me. One thing would've been me killing other tributes in the Games to survive and come back home, but it's a completely different thing to kill my own brother in order to get back to them. I don't really know if I want go back.

There has been a deafening silence covering the Arena since the Capitol-anthem played over the speakers and the pictures of the fallen tributes covered the sky. I didn't recognize any of them, except for my brother. In the early stages of the Games, I didn't really pay attention to anything related to the Games because I didn't want to sit there and watch as my brother endured the various challenges and horrors. I shouldn't have underestimated him though. He was smart, attentive to details, fast on his feet. I will never measure up to any of those things. I'll spend the rest of my life seeing his shadow wherever I go, for however long I have left to live.

Even though these are the Games, I try to take as deep of a breath as possible and enjoy the silence as long as it lasts. At this point, I could hear a pin drop on the sand, and it stays this quiet for a little while longer before the sound of screeching and chirping fills the air, cutting through my ears like nails to a blackboard. I immediately grab the axe and get up on my feet. I turn my head in every direction possible. The sound can be heard in the distance, but it's getting closer. The closer it gets, the more it send shivers down my spine. I decide to try and put some distance between myself whatever that's causing it, but it seems to know every turn I make.

Just as I come around of the corners, I see a crow and a raven in front of me. The raven is on the right, the crow on the left, twisting their heads at me out of curiosity. I tighten my grip around the handle of my axe. My instinct is to threaten them so that they go away, or just kill them considering they might be mutts. Somehow, I just get the feeling that I will get myself into more trouble than just being here really entails. They keep making that obnoxious sound that makes me drop the axe and cover my ears. In a way, they bring back images of what I did to my brother and I don't want them.

"Stop it", I scream with full lung-capacity. When I stop, I have to catch my breath a little bit, as the birds in front of me just look at me. "Tell us a secret", the crow finally says. I look at it curiously. It just spoke to me. "A secret", I ask. It takes a few steps closer to me. "Tell us a secret", it repeats again as I look over at the raven. If the crow wants one thing of me, the raven must want another. "Tell us a lie", it then says. If I go by the crow's request, I choose to expose a secret that nobody knows. If I go by the raven's request, I have to make something up. If I am brutally honest, I don't know like either of those options.